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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Sardi, Khansi, Malaria…………………ya Typhoid

I am back in action - for all those animate souls who read my blog and don’t know me, I have been suffering from Typhoid since 10 days - out of which I have spent 5 magnificent days of my life on a rusted iron bed in a private hospital – (the name obviously which many of you know). This post is from the hospital bed at 11.00 pm on 5th of Feb, 2009.

I am in room # 21.The whole corridor rests in silence, peace and stillness. There is a strange power in silence and stillness. Sometimes, I hate silence because at times - silence makes me think of many aspects of life which I usually do not bother to think about. I am having an acute pain... Ya I am talking of pain...but what is the pain? Is it the pain of being alone in the hospital? No, it should not be that because some time back I have been visited by Didi, Adhvik and all the more Rajiv and Alka also. So what troubles me is the question? Yes - I know….I fear of death and loneliness. I close my eyes and deep down when I reach my slumber I realize that I am no longer a small kid and I should not expect any kid dish treatment meted out to me by any of the elder member in the family. I need to grow and realize my responsibilities.

I am the youngest in the family. Being the baby of the family has both its pros as well as cons. Less is expected of the youngest children.Babies of the family tend to be under less parental scrutiny than the firstborns. Of course these children, would complain that they often have more than one set of parents. Their siblings serve as extra parent figures.The youngest in the family is often known for being charming,affectionate, more carefree – in short, “a people person”.

Being the youngest in the family you are pampered to the core by the rest of the family especially by your sibling. You will be pardoned for your mistake as you are the youngest and still learning.You can go shopping and don't have to pay the bill because your elder brother or sister feels very generous. All these conditions make you a dependent person. You cannot make up your own mind for what is right and what is wrong because from the time you were born you were told to consult your elders for all your decisions. What you eat, what you study, what type of job suits you, how you need to plan for your future, how do you save your income tax, who all you should meet and who all you should like is all governed…yes governed by the elders - WHY because you are the youngest so that makes you incompetent of decision making.I write this post not to offend any of the elder sibling but to put a food for thought into them. Younger brothers/sisters should not be treated as young, immature or irresponsible all the time, one should give them a chance to grow and prove. Even they can be wise and sapiential.

10 comments:

my eyes are moist at this moment! I have no words right now to express how I felt as the 'elder sibling' while reading your post. No, not because I fall in the category described by you, but because I felt I failed to be in that category... even after being the 'elder sibling'! and I don't know if you can understand it, but it hurts!!!Get well soon...

My o My.....the nice parallel which u drew starting from the hospital bed to the "elder sibling bashing" seems to perfectly fall in line with wat is the case with most siblings.Iam indeed an elder sibling to Ravi, though we dont have any such thots of elder-younger - to say the least.

As Ravi said, it is indeed very very distressing for me to see your hand being punctured with drips and all. Get well soon, and come back to the normal life - many many interesting and exciting things to take care of coming up.

Being the youngest - I know what you are going through as I went through a similar phase in my life when I was trying to become more independent. Hang in there and this is only a phase and it will pass.

This is a beautifully written post straight from the heart and it resonated with lots of my thoughts and feelings when i was much younger.

The fact that you wrote it showed that you are independent already with your own thoughts and actions - keep it up.

This was a heart wrenching post, but the best part is that now you are fine......I agree that younger siblings, I being one on the same boat, have to go through such intensities.....but what I have learnt from my experience is that we, being younger, unknowingly (yes that's the word) make our selves felt in the family, as a younger one. Instead what we should do is to contribute to our family in a very straight and normal way....whenever there is a chance for a responsibity, grab it with both hands......and let it show in our actions.....Think as if the whole family depends on us and we are the sole decision maker....It will just be a matter of time before everyone sees us, being Elder....and yes we should always remember that elders will always be elders....Its what we think whether we have become elder, that matters and....that should matter for us.....Take Care

I loved the way you have written this post.It has a kind of realization for elders as well as younger s.Coming to hospitalized feeling is worse to overcome.Very heart touching post.Thank you very much for that post neelam.

I loved the way you have written this post.It has a kind of realization for elders as well as younger s.Coming to hospitalized feeling is worse to overcome.Very heart touching post.Thank you very much for that post neelam.